Author's note; A bit of a trial run in trying out first person perspective from different character's point of view for this one. It's not gonna happen consistently, I just wanted to try and get a feel on how every character sees the situation and their view towards Tanya(Citrine) and the many centuries they've served under her.

Planet F78, South West Hemisphere

Ruins of Rebel Base

Tanya

I watched as the Pebbles worked in conjunction with the Jaspers and Amethyst gems in gathering up and bubbling the leftover gemstones of the rebels that have been defeated thus far for this corner of the world; Sure there would be pockets of other rebel gems within the south western hemisphere, but they would be far and few in between with how most of their forces were congregated within the base we had just now demolished and wiped out their remaining gem forces.

My eyes peered across the landscape as I stood atop the ruins of what used to be an aristocrat's palace of sorts, remodeled to suit the needs of the rebel gems that occupied this quadrant of the planet. I stood atop the ruins to gain a better look from above and watch the progress of the loyalist gems under my command, with my hands behind my back, I idly fiddled my thumbs as I glanced from one side of the battlefield to another side. All around me were gems hard at work to retrieve and bubble the rebel gem's gemstones and take them back to base for their factory reset.

A part of me felt a pang of remorse, but I couldn't let that stop me now with the alternative hanging over the rebel gem's heads; In my early years of being reborn once more, or to be more accurately put, 'created', I callously shattered the enemy gems of the Diamond authority, not knowing that shattering did not mean death wholly for the shattered gems. I still get horrors of regret knowing that essentially, a gem never dies even beyond shattering; shattering in all practicality is shattering a gem's soul, but never permanently stamping it out.

That's a chilling thought, to cease one's being even beyond death by shattering their soul; unlike the time during which I served under the Germanian Empire in my second life in which killing an enemy essentially would send their souls to the afterlife, seeing as how the afterlife had to be a thing if Being X was parading around assuming the moniker of the biblical god.

That, or I was just telling myself all those times that the enemy soldiers I killed would be sent off to a better life into the afterlife, anything to cope with the horrors of war.

Back to the topic at hand, unlike a human's soul being sent to the afterlife once you kill them, a gem's 'soul' essentially still sticks around beyond their shattering; I've seen what Yellow Diamond has done with the gems I shattered, I shudder at the thought of all those souls stuck as one being and turned into a geo weapon. That's a whole can of worms I'll need to address later. I couldn't very well let Earth be destroyed if I wanted to spend some time there and enjoy the sensation of coffee and chocolate once more.

A droplet of something fell upon my cheek, bringing me out of my melancholy thoughts on intangible souls; bringing my arm up from behind my back, I thumbed my cheek and caught the sight of a metallic like liquid and rubbed the substance between my index finger and thumb. "Hmm…" I mumbled out as my citrine eyes honed in on the substance and analyzed the chemical make-up by bringing up my other arm and pulling out a small holo data-pad to scan the stuff as more of the substance began raining down into a light drizzle.

I quirked my eyebrow up in interest after my holo data-pad analyzed the metallic liquid, "Mercury." I softly spoke to myself as I flicked the substance off my thumb while more of the stuff continued to rain down on me and the other loyalist gems as they all continued to bubble and haul away the gemstones of the rebels we defeated. I can count myself lucky that Gem biology is vastly different from a human's, otherwise this rainfall of Mercury would be deadly overtime.

That goes without saying, the planet's atmosphere and biosphere would be no less hazardous as well, but I'm part of a spacefaring race, designed to conquer other worlds. My, and to a greater extent, every other gem's body, are practically hardlight, but with several dozen extra steps seeing as how we can feel pain and change our bodies to ingest food should one understand biology enough to an extent.

Side note to self, I'll need to thoroughly read up biology books, and translate the appropriate organs into my body to correctly consume and enjoy Earth's commodities. I have the time, I just need to fit it into my schedule of my many duties under Yellow Diamond.

A set of footsteps, on the ruins I stood atop of, brought my attention to glance over my shoulder as I placed away my holo data-pad, "Ah, Pearl." I noted as I turned to face the Pearl under my command. "Have you sent my message back to command center of our victory?" I question the Orange Pearl.

Stepping up towards me in what pearls are known to wear as feet modifiers, to put it plain and simple, ballerina shoes, or if you want to be more precise, pointe shoes. (Or toe shoes if you want to be more technical.) My pearl the was under my command wore a dark orange bodysuit in the fashion of a ballerina bodysuit, and much like many other pearls, she had a silk-like fabric to accompany it, only hers seemed to be fashion like that of an officer's coat that hung off her shoulders. Her hair style was a slight mock style of how my hair style used to be in my second life, with some dark tinted orange bangs framing her face. They say imitation is a form of flattery, for pearls, it's more or less taking after their owner's outlook modifiers.

That, or I'm reading too much into Pearl's insistent need to look up at me in a particular light.

Pearl finally reached me and performed a plié with her bow in her attempt at being elegant, it worked but I sighed internally and let her indulge herself. "Yes my Citrine." she answered with an upbeat tone in her voice, before she stood straight up and pulled out a parasol from her gem on her chest and held it up to me. "Here, my Citrine, let me get you out of this awful downpour." she insisted with a chime of worry in her tone.

Bringing up my palm waving her off of her concern, I proceeded to make my way down from the ruins and to the aircrafts to get myself back to base and convene with the Hessonites under my commander for the post-battle statistics. "That won't be necessary Pearl. I need to head back to base anyways." I told pearl while she followed close behind me while putting away the parasol she offered. As I made my way towards the cleared out landing zone for the area, I paused in walking to glance once more at the ruins and ruined landscape leftover from the battle prior.

Pocket marks and indents were prevalent across the land, with various melee weapons used by the rebels either stuck upright in the ground or just laying flat down. "Is something the matter, My Citrine?" Pearl asked me, bringing my attention back to her. I glanced over my shoulder, and noticed she had her head tilted a bit in curiosity, so I indulged her question by answering her. "I'm just viewing the aftermath, nothing more." I lied to her.

Realistically, I was ruminating on how easy it was for Pyrope to rile up a rebellion, it's one thing for someone to actually rise up and mean well, but the Pyrope I viewed from the memory data said otherwise; unlike the many gems of the lower caste that outnumbered the higher caste of gem society, it was easier to identify the Pyrope that was pulling the strings behind this rebellion. Pryope Facet 4m817 cut 1ou5, that particular gem could hide her particular habits of overindulging herself or gaining more accolades, but I knew a silver tongued snake when I saw one.

"Let's go, Pearl." I signaled out for her to follow me, and waved down the Nephrite pilot sitting by her aircraft at the wait for her next passengers. "Right behind you!" Pearl chimed back joyfully in the meanwhile as we both approached the aircraft.

"My Citrine!" The Nephrite stood at attention and gave me the diamond salute most gems performed, "will you be needing a ride back to base?" she inquired, as Pearl and I approached her. Noting the gem within the single eyeball of the Nephrite, I took to witness that she was of a Cabochon variety rather than that of the Facet varieties.

Giving the Nephrite a nod of affirmation, I replied to her. "Yes, post haste please." I said with a stern tone. As Pearl and I along with the pilot Nephrite went to enter the elongated hexagonal airgraft, I was the first among the three of us to sit my rear down and rest my mind while I still could. Most gems of the society as a whole do not need sleep, but to me, any rest is good as any to cope with the long life I've had so far.

Orange Pearl

As I sat next to the left of my Citrine Commander, I couldn't but help but admire how flawless Yellow Diamond managed to create such a perfect cut of gem; my eyes momentarily glance at my Ctrine's eyes as she closes her eyelids shut and performs what I can only guess is how humans from the human zoo take naps, my lips curl upwards into a smile as I sit beside the gem I was created to serve.

Most pearls are used as a variety of roles for simple tasks, but her Citrine seems to want to push more than what her gem type is meant to do. She's seen how most aristocratic gems use their pearls as simple luxuries, entertainers, ladies-in-waiting…that last one she wasn't sure what it meant, just something she's heard her Citrine comment about; maybe the in-waiting part has to do something with waiting on command for their gem owner to command them to do something?

Idle thoughts aside, I glance out my side of the aircraft and note that the mercury rain droplets is now becoming a downpour; rummaging through my memories of what planet F78 is meant for, I remembered a detailed description of said planet was a planet meant for the Aristocrats to visit and lounge around while basking in the sights of the metallic oceans and green atmosphere with the occasional green lightning storms that'd pass through.

Letting out a soft and quiet melodic chuckle to myself, I ponder how beautiful the spectrum of light can be on different planets; maybe one of these days, I ought to ask My Citrine to take me to those so-called 'vacation breaks' she's always complained about wanting to go on. I don't know what a vacation is, but the way she refers to those so called breaks, make me assume it's some sort of thing you do to relax your mind.

Casting my gaze back to my Citrine, I drink in the sight of a perfectly cut gem amongst all other Citrines that I would refute that couldn't compare. The top of Citrine's head is graced with a modifier of light-orange medium length hair that curled at the ends, all nearly passing down past her shoulders; I've always pondered why Citrine's hair modifier was different from the others, but mostly I just reason that it's from Yellow diamond personal creating Citrine on her own.

Framing her eyes and out from her eyelids, Citrine's eyebrows and eye-lashes matched her hair to a perfect-T; I always admired how her slightly orange tinted skin matched her hair as well. My eyes drink in more of Citrine's form as she lays back, silent to the world around her as she rests her beautiful eyes shut. The dress modifiers Citrine wears is what I can only guess Yellow diamond programmed her default outfit to be.

Hanging off her shoulders is what she heard Citrine call a captain's cape with yellow tassels on the shoulders, on her torso is a white blouse with black gloves on her hands that reached her elbows. Drinking in the rest of the sight as best as I could as I most often do when my Citrine isn't looking out of embarrassment, the pants modifier frames her rear and legs so perfectly along with the occasional times she has her saber strapped to her waist for ease of use and to grab at a moments notice. Finishing off the set of clothes modifiers are white boots, and I have to say, it never fails for me to admire the sight of my Citrine strut in a room and command her forces with such unbridled authority.

"You know." Citrine began to say as she yawned and stretched her body out, I am not sure why she does that. Our bodies are not the same as humans when they stretch out after a good night's rest…or so Citrine explained to me about human habits. She often insisted she does it because it feels good after she witnessed how the humans enjoy doing it…maybe I should give it a go?

As Citrine sat up on her seat, she continued to speak after stretching her body out while giving me a sideways look, "I've never seen anyone else watch me nap so intently like you, is my form that appealing to you?" she teased me with a chided tone and a smirk on her lips.

Coughing into my fist to cover my embarrassment, I shyly look to the side and fidget on my seat. "No…no…I-I-I mean yes…no! Yes! No…I mean to say…erm…" Oh curses, how you vex my mind my Citrine! You always say the darndest thing that gets me flustered! Shaking my head, I finally calm my nerves and look directly in the perfect citrine eyes of my Citrine. "I'm just observing how you often rest your body, you seem to enjoy the human activity of napping to a great degree." I noted.

Giving me a wry smile, Citrine responded back in a sincere tone. "You should give it a try, if you're so interested in watching my form whilst I nap." she teased back with a smirk, darn you my Citrine! Why does everything you do seem gorgeous and perfect?

"Well then who'd watch over you while you sleep?" I inquired back with an insistent tone, I'd much rather make sure nothing awful comes my Citrine's way while she takes her serene-like naps.

Tanya

While I find the thought of my Pearl watching over me as I nap away my exhaustion cute, it does feel rather off putting and strange how she's so insistent on watching over my form; on the other hand, I at least have someone watching my back should something come up and I'm not alert enough to be up and about for my next assignment to do.

Giving my Pearl assigned to me a small smile, I accept her reasoning for now and won't push any further. "I suppose that's a good reason." I mused with a slightly amused expression, I note Pearl's cheeks begin to glow a dark hue of orange. She must be embarrassed or something at being caught in the act in such a fashion.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I note that we are soon within sight of the hand-ship and the prefab buildings erected for use as part of temporary barracks, weapons smithing and a whole slew of other buildings for other purposes for the war effort on this planet. It wasn't long, until finally, the aircraft was flown in onto one of the landing zones clear out for gem aircrafts to properly land down on at. My side of the aircraft was facing the majority of the newly formed base of operations, along with the hand ship in the distance, dwarfing most buildings that were erected around it.

As the aircraft landed with a soft 'whump' on the landing zone platform, I noted at the bottom of the stairs that led down to the ground were the few Hessinites that were in charge of commanding the multitudes of gems from within the war room. One such Hessonite had her rectangle hessonite gemstone on her left eye, which allowed me to identify her as Facet 93n cut 3241. The other Hessonite standing beside her is Facet c0m cut m4nd, her gem location mirroring the Hessonite beside her. The final Hessonite to make it and stand at attention at the end of the line of Hessonites was Cabochan 134 Cut d32.

The matter of why she's a cabochon instead of a facet is the pure fact of her gemstone that is situated on her shoulder; unlike how a faceted gemstone has angular corners on its edges, a Cabochan is more oval and has next to no corners and instead has curves.

It was easy to tell who they were, at the moment at least, because they are at present the only Hessonites under my command for this campaign so far on this planet for the time being. Having three Hessonites is generous enough already, it allowed me to delegate more and ease my command structure with multiple Hessonites working together towards a joint campaign on this world.

Hessonite Cabochon 134 cut d23

I can vividly remember when my Citrine defended her stance on accepting me under her command, unlike most other Hessonite's facet gemstones, mine was a cabochon cut of gem compared to the majority of other Hessonites. Quite a few centuries ago I remember how I was among the first of many Hessonites to serve under My Citrine's command, but one of the rare few to stick under her command after so many centuries. Contrary to what many of the gems of the lower caste believe, there is a bit of a divide among us in the higher echelons of the Diamond empire.

Among the aristocratic caste of gems and the military caste of gems, there is a divide amongst us, and it's definitely not the mere fact of the difference of castes between the aristocrats and military gems. No, the inherent divide is type of Facet and cabochon type of gemstone cut. You have the facet aristocratic gems shunning away the cabochon aristocratic gems, simply saying the cabochon gems are not perfectly cut and came out less pure than they did.

Thus, you practically have two separate factions of aristocrat gems within the inner colonies of the Diamond empire, one shunning the other and said other faction putting in more effort than the former to show that they were worth just as much if not more than.

It's all the same to me in all honesty, the aristocrat gems can have their balls and galas, their parties and swarays; They all act the same to me, always acting high and mighty. In my honest personal opinion, the aristocratic caste of gems have gone to the dirt ever since Blue Diamond has sequestered herself away from public eyes after Pink Diamond's shattering. I know it's not my place to say, but she needs to come back and reign in her caste of gems.

At least Yellow Diamond has stayed steadfast and continued to manage her colonies, and I know it's biased of me to say, but Yellow Diamond is better than Blue diamond; we all mourned the loss of Pink diamond, but we all must move on and continue forward.

Where was I? Oh yes, the divide amongst gems of facet and cabochon cuts. Taking a quick look and saw that My Citrine had finally exited out of her aircraft, and was momentarily talking to her Pearl before making her way down to speak with Hessonite Facet 93n cut 3241 about important matters, my thoughts drift back to how the divide is slightly different with Yellow Diamond's caste of military.

While the cabochon gem cuts within the military arm of gem society are less shunned compared to how the aristocrat gems treat their own, the facet gem cuts of the military arm treat the cabochon gem cuts less favorably compared to the facet cuts. But that's been in the far past, well almost a thousand years to be exact dating to Rose Quartz's rebellion.

A lot has changed in the many centuries after Commander Citrine has whittled down the military arm and reworked it back up to suit her needs and commands, and all at the whim of her creator, Yellow diamond. I don't know what made the Citrine I serve under so different from the few other Citrines that exist within gem society, but it seems like Yellow Diamond seems to favor Citrine Facet T4ny4 cut v0n the most. Maybe it's because of her accomplishments during the Rose Quartz Rebellion?

Bringing myself out of my idle thoughts on my Citrine commander, I took note that she finally reached me and awaited my report. Giving the diamond salute to my commanding Citrine, allowed a small smile to grace my lips, "My Citrine, I've compiled a written report on potential advances into the northern quadrant, if you'd allow me a few words on my thoughts on various aspects on what we can expect from the rebels."

Tanya

I nodded to the Hessonite that stood in front of me, "Carry on and walk with me, the others have completed their tasks." I responded to the cabochan Hessonite gem.

"Very well. My Citrine." The Hessonite replied back with a grateful tone, and soon followed beside me while Pearl walked behind me as we headed back to the ship. It took me some time, but I'm glad I've finally ironed out the kinks in the mess that was the military arm of the Diamond empire. It was bad when I had facet gems treating cabochon gems less, I couldn't have that in a military, in which unity amongst all soldiers and commanders was needed to work like a well oil machine with every cog working together towards a common goal.

As the Hessonite gem brought up her own holo-slate pad to project a mini map of the entire world to show her proposed plans, I took note that she put into thought of how rebels work. Well, I guess all those pseudo war college classes I put my commanders through have finally paid off. It does my mind some good, knowing gems can learn past their initial 'programming' they start out with once they are made. It makes my job easier knowing I don't have to hammer in lessons on how war is fought in different situations.

Auther's note; Okay, that was an attempt at a different point of view. Let me know what ya think. Keep in mind, this won't always happen, just few and far between to get a good read on how gems see their situation around Tanya.

Omake

Beach City

In the newly coffee house building, Tanya is seen sitting at her usual bar stool seat at the end of the bar table; with a cup of coffee in her hands, and wafting in the sweet bitter smell of freshly brewed coffee, a sense of calmness found its way into her mind as she took a sip from her coffee brewed by Orange Pearl. The sound of the entrance bells dingling brought her attention to glance over and see who entered, it was Steven once more but with the Pearl of the Crystal Gems.

"Citrine!" Steven greeted Tanya as he jogged over, Tanya nodded in greeting him back, "Steven…" She responded back before taking a quick sip of her coffee before placing it down to give face to the gem hybrid boy. "I see you brought Pearl this time." she mused candidly.

Pearl in the meanwhile was still apprehensive around her and Orange Pearl, "You still don't trust me?" Tanya asked with an amused look in her eyes.

While Steven moved to try and order an iced coffee drink this time from Orange Pearl, Pearl in the meanwhile had her arms crossed as she stood across from Tanya while turning her head with an unsure look on her face. "Sorry, it's just…you caused us a lot of trouble back then." she mumbled out with a look of anger passing through her eyes, before she turned her head to look directly at Tanya.

"Yes yes, I was a bit unhinged back then." Tanya mused as she took her cup of coffee to sip from it more, before speaking once again. "I was simply acting on orders, for fear of being shattered by Yellow…a lot of gems were shattered because of me…" she spoke with a melancholic look in her eyes of regret.

Getting a bit uncomfortable with the subject matter, Pearl sighed to herself. "I just wish I could speak more about the war, and how she…sigh, never mind." she mumbled out.

Tanya quirked an eyebrow up with a look of intrigued, "She gave you an order to keep it a secret…didn't she?" she whispered to her with a look of suspicion.

Pearl's eyes shot wide open with shock and fear, she glanced over to Steven and saw he was chatting it up with Orange Pearl, before she glanced back at Tanya. "I…I don't…I don't know what you're talking about." she whispered out to Tanya.

With an amused smirk, Tanya took another sip and sighed in content. "You know…there's a lot of investigation you can do in the amount of time after Pink Diamond's shattering…or should I say…" Tanya glanced over at Steven with a look of analytical intrigue, "Rebirth?" she mused.

Pearl bit her lower lip in fear, before slapping her mouth with her hands as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. Tanya nodded to herself, "So I was right…Pink staged her death…" Tanya then glanced over to see Steven was still talking to Orange Pearl, and asking questions about space and what other Gem colonies were like. Pearl took her hands away from her mouth and whispered, "Do…do the Diamonds know?" she asked worryingly.

Tanya shook her head negatively, "No…" she supplied, allowing Pearl to sigh in relief, before Tanya spoke once again. "Except White." she slipped out, and held her palm up to cease Pearl from asking anymore questions, and pointed over Steven who was walking over with a cup of ice coffee in hand.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" Steven asked the two, and before Pearl could supply an answer, Tanya spoke up first. "Just things on how far Homeworld and its colonies have advanced in the past five thousand years." she helped Pearl with a lie and answered the young boy.

While Steven began to ask what kind of technology Gems used in outer space from Tanya, Pearl was beside herself as she dealt with the knowledge that at least someone other than her knew the full scope of Pink's ruse…and one of them she feared more than the other.

Omake 2

In another timeline of this fiction, Citrine takes to looking after Steven while the Crystal Gems are off bubbling corrupted gems.

With her back against a blackboard on wheels she pulled over into the living room, Tanya holds out a chalk as she begins teaching Steven Math and other lessons so that he can have a better future. "Now that you have a grasp on basic math, we shall move onto fractions and algebra.'' She begins to instruct with her other hand clasp behind her back while pointing out with her other hand freely towards the black board.

Steven raises his hand, Tanya points at Steven with her chalk in hand and humors his notion of raising his hand as if he was in class…then again, he's in one now, just with a private tutor. "Yes? Question, Steven?" she inquired of the gem hybrid that was created by Pink diamond Rose Quartz.

"Yeah." Began Steven as he smiled excitedly towards Citrine, "When are we gonna work on how I can get my gem powers to work?" he asked her.

Tanya raised an eyebrow, before answering, "Oh, are the gems and your mom not helping you yet on that?" she asked him.

Steven wilted a bit with a frown, "Yeah, but I can't seem to get anything to come out and work from my gem." he answered while pulling his shirt up allowing for his gem to be seen.

Tanya coughed into her fist she had clasped behind her back, "Yes, well, your lessons from me are more grounded for a better prospective future."

"But why?" Steven asked with a clueless expression, prompting Tanya to answer briefly on the merits of peace time activities and spending one's time with extracurricular activities other than gem related activities.

Just as Tanya was about to resume teaching Steven on fractions, and how to use decimal systems, Steven raised his hand once more while Tanya stopped drawing on the chalkboard. "Yes…Steven?" she inquired with a sigh.

"I've heard people say my dad is a Xenophile, what's a xenophile?" Steven asked with an innocent look on his face.

The left field question caused Tanya to break her chalk from pressing too hard on it from being surprised by such a question. "Um…er…" she began to sweat, unsure how to treat the question.

Steven tilted his head to the side a bit with a puzzled look on his face, "Do you not know the term either?" he asked the gem teaching him math.

Tanya coughed into her fist once more with a nervous expression, "Steven, that's a question you should ask your father, not me." she told him with a stern tone. Steven gave Tanya a questioning look, "But why?" inquired of Tanya.

With a soft sigh, Tanya gave Steven a stern look. "Steven, it's an adult subject, and I feel it is not right for me to touch such a subject that I believe should be discussed between a father and son."

With a shrug of acceptance from Steven, the two began going onto the lessons Tanya had in store for that day to teach the Gem Hybrid. Later that Day, Greg universe would do a spit take while drinking soda when his son comes over to the car wash and ask him if he's a xenophile and what it means.